No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a £2.50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card
No More Sad Refrains: The Life of Sandy Denny
 
 
Start reading No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

No More Sad Refrains: The Life of Sandy Denny [Paperback]

Clinton Heylin
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.95
Price: £10.46 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £4.49 (30%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Want guaranteed delivery by Saturday, June 2? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £9.41  
Hardcover --  
Paperback £10.46  
Trade In this Item for up to £2.50
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in No More Sad Refrains: The Life of Sandy Denny for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.50, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.

Frequently Bought Together

No More Sad Refrains: The Life of Sandy Denny + Sandy Denny: Reflections on Her Music + 19 Rupert Street
Price For All Three: £25.94

Show availability and delivery details

Buy the selected items together
  • In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Sandy Denny: Reflections on Her Music £6.99

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • 19 Rupert Street £8.49

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Omnibus Press (6 Jun 2011)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1849386986
  • ISBN-13: 978-1849386982
  • Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 80,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

Uncut

With intimate accounts from friends and colleagues, this is a bold but never sensationalised look at the finest British singer-songwriter of them all --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

With Fairport Convention and solo, Sandy Denny displayed one of contemporary music's finest voices; she also composed her own material, including "Who Knows Where The Time Goes"--a huge U.S. hit for Judy Collins--and sang on Led Zeppelin IV. However, Sandy tragically got caught in a spiral of drink and drugs and died at age 31 in 1978. Best-selling Dylan biographer Heylin draws on hours of new interviews to tell Sandy's story.


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
For many people, Sandy Denny remains Britain's foremost female singer-songwriter. After a brief stint with the Strawbs, she came to prominence in the seminal folk-rock band Fairport Convention. Three ground-breaking albums later she left to form her own band, Fotheringay, and then recorded four beautiful solo albums. (She was also the only singer ever to guest on a Led Zeppelin album, on "The Battle of Evermore".) The last line of the last song on her last album was, "I won't be singing any more sad refrains." In April 1978, less than a year after its release, Sandy Denny was dead, aged just 31.

Denny's most famous song is "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?", and somehow it's taken over two decades for the unvarnished story of her life and death to come out. Clinton Heylin's biography is no hagiography; Sandy Denny was no saint. Most of her fans will be surprised to learn that she was a heavy drinker, and terribly insecure. Heylin blames many of those around her for making her insecurity even worse. He brands her adored but roving husband Trevor Lucas (who died in 1989) "a mediocre musician" who badgered Denny into writing more songs, then dismissed them as sounding too much the same. He blames Denny's early producer, Joe Boyd, for pulling the plug on Fotheringay half way through recording their second album, forcing her unwillingly to go solo. ("Solo" is one of her most ironic songs, as much about broken love as about singing.)

Heylin's book, which includes photographs, some of Denny's drawings, pages from her diaries, and unrecorded and draft lyrics, is a sharp-edged record of her personal and professional frustrations and missed opportunities. It's sad to read of so much sadness, especially considering, as one of her friends said, "When you listen to her voice you think, God, what did she have to be insecure about?" And Heylin ends by quoting another great Fairport alumnus, Richard Thompson: "I've not heard a singer since with that much of a gift... Sandy's songs [are] some of the best songs written since the war." -David V Barrett

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Sandy Denny has to be one of the greatest British singers ever. Her voice had a haunting quality and a truly natural sound and was able to make your spirits soar or break your heart.

This book acquaints you with the woman behind the voice. As the author says, "Solo the voice could now be heard in all its resonating purity, driven by an unerring instinct, but the secret Sandy remained a deeply unhappy person, for whom the songs remained her only release."

There are lots of touching anecdotes, like the time Sandy invited her friend Bambi Ballard to a studio at one in the morning to play the songs of the album "Sandy." After each song the insecure Sandy asked "You don't want to hear any more, do you?" Bambi Ballard, the sole audience, with tears running down her face had to reassure her that each song was lovely and to urge her to play another.

The book also corrects the notion that Sandy fell as a result of falling downstairs - and helps to explain why the some of the facts were played down.

In short if you like Sandy Denny's music, this book is a "must" and is extremely readable.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
A moving story 8 Sep 2003
Format:Paperback
If you have ever enjoyed Sandy's music, you should read this, but be warned. It is very depressing to read about someone so talented and so hell-bent on self-destruction. Despite the total contrast in their voices, Sandy consciously modelled herself on Janis Joplin, and the ensuing lifestyle wreaked the inevitable consequences. If I have one criticism of this book, it is in the sometimes shoddy writing/editing. There are a number of spelling and grammatical errors, but by far the most annoying feature is the way Heylin insists on inserting his own words into other people's quotations - ostensibly for reasons of clarity, but in most cases completely unnecessary. I don't have an actual example to hand, but to give you the idea, if someone says something like "She was a bit of a heavy drinker", it's likely to come out as "[Sandy][at that time] was a bit of a heavy [brandy] drinker". It adds nothing to the meaning, and after a while becomes highly intrusive and irritating. That aside, it's a very good (if sobering) read.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Adequate, but no more than that
I've just finished reading Clinton Heylin's NO MORE SAD REFRAINS, which took just a couple of sessions. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Virgil Hilts
Troubling...
Firstly, the book seems to be full of the author's weird conceited thoughts. Secondly, the cover is wrong, Amazon. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. C. J. Iredale
oh music lover
It,s finally nice to meet Sandy Denny.An emotional trip through a much too short of a life.Never knowing much about her other than in her songs,this is as close as I can get.
Published 8 months ago by sammy soft
Reissue of poor Heylin biog complete with demented epilogue
The only reason this book was of any importance was because it was the only published biography of UK's finest singer, Sandy Denny. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. J. C. Taylor
No corrections, but still something was added
Why it took so long to reprint this book remains a mystery. It has been out of print for many years. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Hans Valk
OK - if you can get hold of a copy
Having always wanted to read Heylin's biography of English folk singer Sandy Denny (1947-1978) since I heard it had been published in 2000, but never being able to locate a copy, I... Read more
Published 19 months ago by cathy earnshaw
A Tragic Book.
Heylin took the writing of this book on after the publisher rejected the manuscript of the original author, and I can't help but feel that his reasons for so doing were as much... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2006 by Solzhi
A beautiful and honest book about a beautiful honest singer.
Sandy is a bit of a penchant of mine. Her songs and her cover songs really move me, Even after all these years, A quite outstanding gift. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2003 by carl iredale
Sandy Denny - who had no thought of time
When the book arrived this morning, I intended to read it "soon"; for now, I would just dip here and there for comment on particular songs, or stages in the life of Sandy... Read more
Published on 15 April 2001
At last - the mystery around Sandy Denny is uncovered.
Sandy Denny was one of the greatest voices of British Folk in the late 60's and early 70's. Her development and contribution to Fairport Convention, the Strawbs and Fotheringhay is... Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2000
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges